Asphyxiate
by The Vampire Avatar
Summary: Sequel to The Stakes Raised High. Mr. Crepsley has left, Evra isn't Darren's friend anymore, and Darren just doesn't know what to do anymore...What will Darren do?
1. Going back And an idea

**Okay guys! It took me a while to figure out what I was going to do for this chapter, but thanks to your guy's reviews, I got it! :) thank you so much. I know I say that a lot, but. Eh whatever. **

**Hope you guys like this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own CDF **

After a while, I got really annoyed with all the "He's BACK?" looks. It just got really uncomfortable. So anyway, I got some blood into me, and I felt better after a few days. It just took some time to...adjust to being alive.

Time goes fast in the mountain, so I have no idea how long it was when Mr. Crepsley came up to me.(I'm guessing that it was maybe a month or two?) He had a weird face on. Like, a combination of joy mixed with sorrow.

"Darren, we need to talk." he said, sitting down next to me.

"um...okay? What is it?"

"We are leaving the mountain, and going back to the Cirque du Freak. Pack your things tonight and be ready to leave tomorrow." With this said, he stood up, and walked away.

_Um...okkkkaaaayyy? At least I get to see Evra again._

***line***

Harkat came with us when we left. He didn't have very many things, so he took like 5 minutes where as I took like 2 hours to get everything I got here and came with into a bag.

"Hey Mr. Crepsley, why are we going back to the Cirque?" I called up to him.

"It does not concern you Darren," he snapped back. Okay, what's with him?

It took a few minutes for Mr. Crepsley to track down the cirque, and for us to catch up to them. But in about a month, we were there.

Harkat and I ran ahead to go greet our friends and see the new performers. One of them apparently, can breathe underwater. She even has gills on her neck! I got to touch them, she said that it didn't matter, as long as I didn't touch them in the water, that's how she breathes. Her name is Uisce. Her parents named her water in Irish. But the weird thing is, she's not even Irish. Not even her accent. I think it's like American...? I don't know. But she is really pretty.

And when I say pretty, I mean pretty!

But anyway, Mr. Crepsley was always there, right beside me. He never left my side, always watching me. When I left to go to bed in my tent, still sharing it with Evra, he still followed me! All the way to the door. Then even inside. "Good night Darren. Sleep well."

And with that, the crazy vampire left. "WHAT!"

***line***

"You left Darren. Why did you leave me?" Sam repeated. Over and over, again and again. I have had this dream ever since I came back to life. Sam comes and questions me on why I left him. Everybody that I ever met, and then died do this. Even Murlough came and did this. This is why I haven't had very much sleep lately. But this time, it was different. Almost everybody that I know was there, Mr. Tall, Mr. Crepsley, Steve, Kurda, Gavner, Arra, Paris, even R.V. !*

Some were dead, some were alive, but the worst part was _seeing_ some die! Like Arra, she was stabbed in the stomach with a sword. And Mr. Tall was shot. Steve was killed, by drowning in a river. But the worst part, above all, was seeing Mr. Crepsley falling down on some flaming stakes.

When I saw this,I jolted up, screaming, covered in sweat.

I looked around, making sure everything was fine. The cold night air came in, making the sweat feel cold. I got up from my hammock, and went for a walk in the woods.

I walked aimlessly for a while before I heard waves crash against something. I got up to the edge of a cliff to look down and see waves crashing against the wall of the cliff.

I was covered in sweat, haven't bathed in months, and I was extremely hot. In looks too.

The sun was at its highest point. The glare was unbearable-even for a human, the sun was seriously bright.

_Oops. Guess I was out here for more than a few minutes. It's almost noon! Note to self: Buy sunglasses and watch._

So, I jumped off the cliff, and started to feel the air, but my jump was cut short.

Somebody had grabbed my arm, and I looked up, and gasped.

"What are you doing here?" I shouted up.

"Well, I was about to ask you the same thing, Darren. Should you not be at the Cirque right now?" Mr. Crepsley said calmly, looking down at me.

I groaned. "Wait, shouldn't the sun be burning you or something?"  
>"It is burning me right now." And you could see that too. He was red already, and sweat was streaking down his face. "Now, come on Darren. I wish to get back to the Cirque so I can return to my coffin." He grunted at me, pulling me up.<p>

After a while, we just walked in an awkward silence. I guess it took me a while to get to the cliffs, because it took us 3 hours to get back to the Cirque.

Once I got back to my tent, done with my chores, Evra ran up to me. He's 2 feet taller than I am now. He's about 17 and you have no idea how depressing that is for me. I wish I could be my age right now, instead I am stuck in this 13 year old body.

"Hey Darren. Where ya been all day?"

"I got up around...seven couldn't get back to sleep, so I went on a hike. Mr. Crepsley found me and forced me to come back. What chores did you have to do today?"

"The usual, clean the tent, feed the little people, and go get firewood."

"Hmm...hey, have you ever been on a hike?"

"Of course I have, Darren."

"Well, yeah, besides that. You'll never believe what I've found when I was out there."

"What? A rock?" Evra smirked at his 'joke'.

"No, Evra, have you ever seen cliffs with water all around them up close and personal?"

That got his attention. "No, but I think I know something that would interest _you_ with that."

I thought about this for a minute, before curiosity made me speak.

"And what would that be?"

"Well Darren," He said getting a baseball and tossed it up, caught it, then threw it to me. "Have you ever been cliff diving?"

The ball fell to the floor, unnoticed by my excitement.

**Well, there ya go guys! chapter 11 XD finally done! thank you so much to those of you who reviewed and voted. But a special shout out to KBerry for being my beta reader. And hopefully, we can get the thing to work. Thanks again!**

*** All these people were some of the ones that died at the end of the Saga of Darren Shan**


	2. Cliff jumping with Evra

**Disclaimer: I do not own CDF**

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><p>Evra and I now had a plan. There is an hour, just one hour, where everybody is asleep in the Cirque. Even Mr. Tall was asleep during that hour. We had to plan swiftly, quietly, and most importantly, carefully. If we got caught by somebody and asked what we're doing we can say "Oh, yeah. We're going to go jump off a cliff. Don't tell Mr. Crepsley or Mr. Tall okay?"<p>

No. We would be in so much trouble.

We had to stay up all night one night to find the hour. But we finally did it!

Mr. Crepsley usually goes to bed around when the sun rises, and Mr. Tall gets up about thirty minutes after that. But, on some nights when Mr. Crepsley is all alone (I'm going to have to pretend to be asleep when he comes into my tent to make me train) he goes to bed about an hour before the sun rises. All we had to do was get out before Mr. Tall woke up.

Easy enough. Well, as easy as it gets sneaking out of a Circus with a vampire, wolf man, and whatever Mr. Tall is.

So now we wait to put our plan in action.

***line***

Evra and I were eating lunch in our tent, waiting for the hour to come and thinking of what we should do after it tomorrow. We finished our chores as soon as we woke up to save us the trouble of worrying about it later. But as we were thinking, I noticed a flaw in our plan.

"So Evra, how will we get back without being noticed?" I asked taking a bite out of my sandwich. His head snapped up, eyes wide open.

"Um...I don't know. I never thought of that. Crap. What will we do?"

Hours passed with us thinking of what we need to do tomorrow when we come back.

***line***

The weather was important too. If it is too cold, we can't go. If the waves are too fierce, we definitely can't go. If the current is too bad, then we might as well just jump in a 'Have you seen me' poster. I went into town to check out what the weather was supposed to do. They said that the weather was supposed to be calm- perfect for swimming on the beach.

So everything was okay to go. Now, just to get past the night where I have to be asleep until the hour-otherwise, Mr. Crepsley will make me train.

When the sun was about to set, Evra ran up to me, and dragged me to our tent by my arm.

"What is it?"

"Mr. Crepsley woke up early, you should be asleep by now if he was going to be awake! Darren, there's only one way to make you skip training tonight…" Evra sighed, looking down. But you could still see his smirk.

_What is he talking about-NO! NOT THAT! oh shi-_

"Evra, PLEASE, not that. I can fall asleep in that amount of time, I promise!"

"No, he will still be able to see that you just went to sleep. I didn't want to do this either, but...Darren, you and I both know that this is something we have to do," he said through a gigantic smile.

He tackled me to the ground, and forced my mouth open. He then took out a bottle of something we mixed up in case it came to this. It was a full bottle of the following all mixed together: Tomato juice, vinegar, salt water, some bits of seaweed, some cooked bacon and eggs, pancake mix, octopus eggs, a sheep's eye, oyster juice, oyster itself, and some sardines. The instant puke drink.

The drink tasted absolutely revolting and I almost threw up on contact with the taste. Unfortunately, the drink worked. Mr. Crepsley must've been five feet from the door when he heard me throw up. All I heard after that was some running footsteps. Evra laughed and put the drink back under the bed.

"Good job, Darren. Looks like it worked well. Come on, let's get some sleep. Jeez, Darren. Get some mouthwash. Your breathe stinks!" he said and went to bed.

I rolled my eyes, washed out my mouth (the taste was still there a little) and went to bed.

***line***

The alarm on Evra's watch woke me up, so we could both go at the same time. We jumped out of our hammocks and put on our shorts-nothing else, nothing more. "Come on, Evra. We don't have much time!" I whisper/yelled at him.

"Yeah, Yeah. You just run faster, that's all."

So we began to run. If it took me three hours to get there walking, running should take about 2 hours. Give or take.

**Two and a half hours later...**

Evra and I were out of breath. Leaning on my knees, gasping for air, Evra looked up at me. "You know, maybe we should have walked in the middle of the day, and then we would at least have SOME energy left!"

"Yeah, well, good luck with that. It doesn't matter now. We're here." I got up, walked up to the edge of the cliff and looked down.

The Sea-green water glistened in the early morning sun. The waves were barely splashing around, and the best part: It looked refreshing. We were sweaty, hot, and tired. One jump would never hurt us.

"Okay, Evra. Ready to cliff dive?"

He nodded and ran up next to me. "The better question should be: 'When am I going to see you down there, Darren?'" and jumped off the cliff, and into the ocean. The waves splashed as he landed, and he surfaced. "Come on, Darren! You have no idea how good this feels!" he said, laughing.

_"Hey, Mommy! Look at the cliff!" I looked up at my mom._

_"Yeah, it is a pretty cliff huh? Oh, Darren. Your dad is calling me. I have to go, but I will be right back okay?" She smiled sweetly at me. _

_"Okay Mommy."_

_The cliff was similar to this one, it had water over the edge, and I went to go play over near it. I thought that it was safe, that nothing could hurt. After all, people swim in it right? People drink it right? So nothing bad could happen._

_So there I was, playing by myself with my toy truck, when it rolled off the edge, and into the water. I couldn't leave it there, so I jumped in after it. The truck floated down, farther and farther into the ocean. I swam after it, going down, deeper into the water. Suddenly, my chest and throat began to feel very weird. They were feeling like somebody had wrapped their hand around them, and squeezed with all their might. _

_What's going on! I thought to myself._

_I stopped going after my truck, and opened my mouth to scream, letting the rest of my oxygen supply go. I didn't know what to do, so I just floated there, holding my chest and throat. Begging them to stop hurting._

_Somebody grabbed my arm, and pulled me up towards the surface of the water. I gasped in fresh air._

_"Hey, kid. Are you alright?" A guy with blonde hair asked me in concern. _

_"Yeah, but my toy truck. It's still down there," I said looking down into the water, trying to see if I could find it._

_"Well, if that's the case, it's probably gone then. I'm sorry."_

_"DARREN!" My mom screamed over the edge of the cliff. "ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?" _

_"Yes mommy!"_

_"Can you help bring him up here?" My mom asked the strange man._

_"Sure." He jumped out of the water, and got a hold of a few rocks on the side of the cliff. "Hold on tight, kid," he said as he began to climb up the cliff. Once he reached the top, my mom and dad helped him up. _

_"Thank you so much! You have no idea how much we are grateful for you."_

_"Oh it's no problem, I assure you. Still, this late at night he should have been asleep, not playing with his toy."_

_"Okay, then… We don't even know your name."_

_"Oh, it's Kurda. Kurda Smahlt." He smiled a little smile, and left._

_"Darren Shan. You must promise me you will NEVER do that as long as you live. You hear me? Grounded for two weeks..." She rolled out a punishment for me, but I wasn't really listening. I was thinking about my saviour, and how he saved my life. When I watched him leave, for some reason I didn't feel the need to say anything. It felt like it wasn't goodbye…_

"Come on, Darren! What, are you scared?" Evra taunted from the water.

Well, I was dead to her. So I guessed the promise wass broken anyways.

"HA! You wish!" I yelled back to him.

I backed up a few steps, and ran off the cliff's edge, into the sweet, refreshing cold water.

It felt so good after running for two hours!

I broke the surface, breathing in the fresh ocean air.

"Haha, so. Guess you're not a chicken after all."

"Haha, why would you even think that!" I said, splashing water on him.

We laughed for a while, splashing each other.

But then, something happened that terrified me and Evra down to the bone. Blood spilled out from out feet and ankles, causing the water to turn a red color.

"What's this?" Evra shouted.

"I don't know. Check the water!" We splashed around, seeing if there was anything.

"Hey, Darren! Come check this out!" I swam over to Evra. And gasped at what I saw.

Metal wires were everywhere, about five feet under the surface.

Not only was there wire, but it had COLLARS to it too. It looked like it was used to drown people or something. The wire was barbed, so if you tried to escape, your hands would get cut. Like our feet and ankles.

Great. Just what we needed to get back to the Cirque. Blood feet, scraped ankles, all of it. Thanks.

"Come on, Evra, let's go," I said, starting to swim towards the cliff.

"Um, Darren? There's a problem with that," Evra said, not even moving from his spot.

"And what would that be, Evra?" I said through gritted teeth, stopping.

"How are we supposed to be able to climb the cliff if we can't use our bloody feet?"

I stopped completely. How _were_ we supposed to get back to the Cirque? We didn't bring anything but our shorts. This was really bad. If we didn't get back before somebody noticed we're gone...

"Crap! Evra, we need to swim around, CAREFULLY, and see if there's a beach or something we can get out on. If that doesn't happen, we'll have to climb back up the cliff."

For the next three hours we swam around, looking for a way out of there without the cliff. We did finally find something-a beach. Just what I was hoping for.

Evra and I raced out onto the white sand, and inspected the damage to our feet. Evra's wasn't that bad. It was just scraped up, some scales got some red scratches, but other than that and bruises he was fine.

I, on the other hand, got the worst of it. My feet were bloody and had a lot of skin sticking up from cuts. It was going to get infected, you could tell. If we didn't get help for them, I would have two infected feet.

"Darren," Evra said in a quivering voice.

"What is it, Evra?"

"Where are we?"

I looked up, shocked at what he had said, and found he was right. None of the area looked familiar at all. We were lost. And bloody. And tired. And hungry. Worst part? The sun was going to set. And because we were in Hawaii, it sets really early at six forty pm. We left at six am. Raced here in two and a half hours, arrived at eight thirty am. Swam for about thirty minutes. Nine am. Looked around for about fifteen minutes for what made us bloody. Nine fifteen. Three hours searching for a beach. Twelve fifteen.

We had six hours to get back to the Cirque, do our chores, get our feet looked at, and make sure it didn't get infected. All of this before Mr. Crepsley woke up.

The clock started then, as Evra and I shared a glance and sprinted into the unknown forest of Hawaii.

***line***

The trip back was horrible. We got lost three times, had to stop and take multiple breaks from running/the pain in our feet, and the worst part was when we found out we had been running for about an hour in a gigantic circle. Many swear words were yelled.

But, we did make it before sundown. Good news, we get about thirty minutes to do our chores. Bad news, the only way in without being caught was going by the wolf man's cage. Everybody was looking for something. Or... more likely, us.

Carefully, we tiptoed past the wolf man's cage. It looked like he was asleep, and I really didn't want to wake him up. Evra went first, so that way I could get a faster getaway. But I told him that he had to go first because I was still scared of the wolf man.

We walked ever so slowly and quietly past the wolf man. We were so close. Just a little more...just a little more... just a little more...just a little-

"FRICK!" Evra screamed, falling to the ground. He stepped on a pointy stick with one of the cuts from the fence. The wolf man's head snapped up and he howled into the sky, like he was about to be strangled or something.

"There they are!"

"Over here. Found 'em."

"FINALLY!"

"Oh, thank goodness they are all right."

The cirque performers exclaimed-hearing the Wolf man's howling had attracted them to us.

Evra and I shared a look. We're screwed!

Mr. Tall came over, looked at our feet, told us we had to go wash them, and took Evra. Apparently, as his 'mentor' he could give Evra his punishment. Whereas I had to go and tell Mr. Crepsley what I did and ask him what my punishment was going to be.

I made my way across the Cirque, feeling, in a word, anxious. Mr. Crepsley is not happy when I do something wrong, and makes that clear. His punishments range from physical to cleaning. Most of the time, it's a cross between the two. For about a month, maybe four.

***line***

I knocked three times before I stood back and heard Mr. Crepsley come out. "Darren. What do you want? I'm very busy right now." He scowled, looking down at the ground.

"Mr. Tall wants me to tell you what I did today and ask for my punishment."

He "Hm'd" and let me in. I sat on his coffin, got comfortable.

After I told him everything, he just nodded.

"Don't do it again. Your punishment shall be to do today's chores and tomorrow's chores. Now go," Mr. Crepsley said so quietly and fast that I had to strain my ears to hear what he even said.

But once I caught what he said, I bolted out of there. I wanted to get out before he would change his mind.

I was half way across camp when I realized something. _WHY DID MR. CREPSLEY USE A_ _CONJUNCTION? NOT ONCE, BUT TWICE! WHAT IS UP WITH THAT STUFFY OLD, BAT?_

Be careful what you wish for...

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><p><strong>Well, there you guys go. The second chapter. Hope you guys liked it!<strong>

**Please review!**


	3. Friends don't do that

__Okay guys! I'm back with chapter 3! hope you guys like it! :)__

_**Disclaimer: I don't own CDF. I only own my OC(which will come in later**__)_

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><p>The next day when I woke up, Evra wasn't there. In fact, none of his stuff was there. I got up, still half asleep, and went to go and ask where he was.<p>

Mr. Tall was standing outside of my door when I went to go see where Evra went.

"Hello Darren," he said, placing a hand on my shoulders. "Let's go have a talk in my tent, okay?"

"Um...sure I guess? Hey, Mr. Tall, you haven't seen Evra by any chance? Or know where he is, would you?" I asked him. He looked down at me, with pity in his eyes.

"That is what we are going to talk about. Come, Darren," he whispered into my ear.

After we got into his tent, he shut the door behind us and sat down across from me.

"Now, Darren. Before I begin, I want you to know that you have a lot of people who care about you and are your friend here, okay?" I nodded. "Good. Well, let me just get straight to the point then. Evra requested something earlier today and I allowed it. He told me some very good reasons for what he wanted to do. I did ask him what of you, but he still has gotten my acceptance."

"What did he request?" I asked, my voice trembling. Please don't be what I think it is. Please don't let him go to a different circus or something.

Mr. Tall sighed, then looked up at me. "Darren, Evra had asked me if he could transfer to a different tent. I knew you would be sad, but please. I think that it is for the best if you go and talk to him and tell him how you feel."

How I feel?

"Oh, and before I forget, Darren. Larten has asked me to tell you that there is no training until further notice, go to bed at night, and that when you need blood, there shall be some in the freezer."

"...Okay, thank you."

But wait, that's the only time I got to see Mr. Crepsley when we're at the Cirque. So when did I get to see him?

Evra was walking towards the pond with a bunch of his friends when I saw him. I ran to catch up with them.

"Hey, Evra! Wait up!" I called out to him. He stopped, sighed, then turned around. He looked at his friends, but they shrugged and said something that I couldn't hear.

"Hey, Evra. Why did you request to go to a different tent?" I asked, hurt in my voice. I looked up to him, eyes having no pity what-so-ever.

"Because, Darren," he said, and turned around. They started to walk away, but I couldn't let that happen until I got some answers.

"I thought that we were friends," I called out to him. I ran up to him, and pushed him. His friends pushed me back, causing me to fall onto the ground.

"Because isn't an answer! Tell me the truth! NOW!" I screamed at him, fighting back tears.

"You don't want the truth, Darren," he said, looking at the ground, clearly not wanting to do this at all.

I stood up, and looked at him straight in the eyes. "Evra. I want the truth."

His friends laughed at me, and one of them, I think his name is Chris, took one of my arms and twisted it as far as it's not suppose to go. After hearing me scream, the entire group (minus Evra, who was still looking at the ground) started to laugh their heads off.

Then it went from bad to worse.

They picked me up and started to run to the pier. "EVRA, MAKE THEM STOP! EVRA!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

"One...two...three...RELEASE!" Chris yelled to the others, throwing me into the water as they laughed.

The water was so cold. It felt like I was going to freeze unless I got out of there quickly. I came up to the surface, breathing in as much air as I could get.

Evra's friends were gone, but Evra was walking back to them, down the pier.

"Friends don't do that to each other Evra! They tell the truth and stand up for each other!"

He stopped, turned to face me and said in such a soft voice that without my vampire hearing I wouldn't even hear, "You're right. Friends don't do that. But the truth is Darren, we aren't friends anymore."

I watched him go away with his friends until they were out of sight.

Then I got out of the freezing water, ran out of the pond area and kept on running until the Cirque was in view. Then I sprinted. I barely even noticed the breakfast scents coming from all around- I just kept running.

I ignored all the calls of concern asking me what was the matter. I didn't care.

My best friend just left me.

My ex-best friend just watched me get my arm twisted and thrown into a pond.

I ran into my tent, and jumped into my bed. I screamed 'Life is so unfair to me!' into my pillow, and cried.

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><p>Later that day, I came out and got something to eat. A hot dog and some chips. I went back into my tent for about an hour and then went to go see Mr. Crepsley.<p>

I knocked on his coffin lid and waited for him to come out. I heard him mumbling something, then he opened the lid.

"Darren," he said, his eyes widening in shock, "What are you doing here? Should you not be playing with Evra or something?"

"He's...busy. I was hoping that we could talk?"

He shook his head and sighed.

"Darren, look we do need to talk. But let me go first, okay?"

"Um...sure. Go ahead."

"Darren, I am leaving for about a month, maybe more. I am going to help a friend out and I need you to stay here with everybody. I shall come and find you when I am back. I shall be leaving tomorrow and will not be able to say goodbye to you, seeing as how I have to leave as soon as I can. So what is-"

"You're lying," I said, looking him straight in the eyes.

"What? Darren, why wo-"

"You aren't going to help a friend are you?"

He looked at me for a while, then sighed.

"No. I am going back to Vampire Mountain."

"I want to-"

"NO. You are not coming. This is strictly only me this time, okay?"

I looked him in the eyes and with all the force in me, I said as stubbornly as I could, "No." I got up and put my hands on his shoulders. "I am coming with you."

"No, Darren. You are not coming with me." He pushed me gently off of him, but when I moved to put my hands on his shoulders again, he pushed me back into the table he had in his tent. I fell to the floor, gasping from pain in my back. He came over to me and looked me in the eyes. "Do not do anything stupid while I am gone."

I was going to protest, when Mr. Crepsley breathed out the knock out gas.

Then everything went black.

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><p><em>Thanks for the awesome reviews! a shout out to KBerry and thehotgingerone for being the only reviewers yet. Thanks you guys! it means a lot!<em>

_I know, short chapter. But this was kinda a filler one. I am running out of ideas of what to do. Sooo yeah... I have the ending planned out. But until then, I might be a little slower on updates._

_Thanks again guys!_

_please review! :)_


	4. Darren alone and news from Sam

Okay guys- thanks for waiting :) I know that I haven't been updating this as much as before. Blame school. But I will try to update so much more. And I know, the last chapter was really sad :( but it will get better! :D especially this chapter. OK, enough babbling. ON WITH THE STORY!

Disclaimer: I do not own the CDF saga. Only my OC(Uisce )

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><p>(DARREN'S DREAM)<p>

_"Hey Sam!" I called over to him. He snapped his head up to my voice, and ran over to me._

_"Hey Darren! How have you been?" he asked in an ecstatic voice._

_"I've been better..."_

_"What's wrong?"_

_I told him everything about what had happened in the last few weeks. How Mr. Crepsley had left, Evra's betrayal and how I was visited a lot by Harkat and Mr. Tall._

_He was silent for a minute then a smile lit up his face._

_"OH! I know, Darren! Why don't you go and have some of your own fun? You don't need to have people with you to have fun."_

_"I dunno, Sam. What could I do? Play twister? No thanks."_

_"Well, it's just a suggestion. I miss you a lot Darren."_

_"I miss you a lot too Sam."_

_We laughed and played a game of 20 questions. Then we talked about what Sam was up to in Paradise and how everybody was. I laughed so much when I was with Sam. He was probably one of the few friends I had left._

_"Oh, hey. It looks like you are waking up," Sam said as the air around us started to shift. This is usually the sign that I was about to wake up._

_"BYE!" was Sam's last word I hear before I opened my eyes to see the world once more._

I opened my eyes and cover them with my hand as soon as they opened. The sun was in my eyes, so I could tell that I woke up to a sunny day. I sat up and went to go change out of my shorts into a full outfit. Not the pirate costume, but a black long sleeve undershirt and a blue shirt. Then a torn up pair of jeans. I called it good and went back to my bed, flinging myself down.

I stared up at the ceiling for hours before Harkat came into my tent.

"Hey Darren. Have you eaten...anything today yet?" Harkat asked me. See, the thing is I went into depression a while back. That's why he asked me. Harkat's kind of like my own caretaker now. If it wasn't for him, I would have died months ago. Yeah, I said _months_. Mr. Crepsley hadn't returned yet. Even though he said only a month, two tops. It has been over five months. Evra had abandoned me before Mr. Crepsley had left and now he was practically pretending that I didn't exist. And to be honest, he was doing a damn good job at it.

"No, nothing." I sighed miserably.

Harkat sighed, and looked at me with those green eyes of his.

"Darren, this isn't healthy. You need to get out in the sun...drink blood, and eat on your own. You shouldn't have to have me... force you to do all those things."

"I know, I know. It's just that...well, maybe I want to be by myself sometimes. And this is one of those times."

He looked up at me and if looks could kill...

"So you are saying that the past five months...has been time that wanted to be by yourself? Wow, Darren. That's just wow." Harkat snapped at me.

He got up, and stomped out of the tent, slamming the door behind him.

Mr. Tall came into my room later that day. He said that he already told all of the other Cirque members that we were leaving where we were and moving to a different place. He showed me on his wicked cool map where it was. He told me a lot about that place. They had a lot of good beaches, some really cool caves, and the best part was the views over the cliffs. Over a towering 100 feet high cliffs, into a beautiful blue ocean. Of course, this is all depending on the weather. Sometime they had a beautiful day, with clear skies. But other times, the blue ocean was black and the rip currents were so strong, that it had caused over ten people to die from just swimming on the beach. Though, for some reason, they were found out in open water, not near the beach.

"Everything is going to get better, Darren. Just watch and see." He got up and walked out of the room to go attend to other things.

* * *

><p><em>"Sam!" I called out to him. He wasn't there yet, and usually he would always be there as soon as I called his name. Come on Sam, where are you? I thought to myself.<em>

_It must have been a few hours before Sam came into sight._

_"Finally. Where have you been Sam?" I mused._

_"D-Darren. I'm so sorry. I thought that you knew..." Sam whispered._

_"Knew what? What are you talking about?"_

_"Darren...you don't know...oh my god..." Sam wept. He turned around, running his hands through his hair._

_"I am so sorry, Darren. I thought that you knew..."_

_"Knew what Sam?"_

_He turned back to me, with his face streaked with tears._

_"I was talking to him about you. I thought that you knew. That's why I didn't come for a while...Darren...I'm so sorry..."_

_"Sam! What don't I know?"_

_He looked up at me, tears glistened in his eyes._

_"That the vampire, Mr. Crepsley. He's dead. I was talking to him about you. H-he doesn't remember you at all. But he remembers everything else."_

* * *

><p>D: Wow. I know that it's been a while since I updated, and for that I apologize. I also would like to apologize on this cliffhanger. BUT, I promise you that things will get better. For those of you who are obsessed with Mr. Crepsley as I am,read the following:<p>

SPOILER!( IF YOU DON'T WANT ONE-DON'T READ THIS!)

Mr. Crepsley is alive, and he will be told that Darren is dead.

Can't wait for more now, canya? :D


	5. Chris's wolf form

**Thanks for all the awesome reviews guys! It means a lot to me! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Darren Shan saga.(only my OC Uisce )**

I jolted out of my dream/nightmare. _H-he's dead? No, that can't be. He said he'd be back...a few months ago. Maybe he really is dead..._

_NO! I refuse to believe it. He is alive. He has to be..._

I found myself covered it sweat, the blanket on the floor, and suddenly remembered something.

Mr. Crepsley tracking down Mr. Tall. He said he had a "mental connection" with him, right?

So Mr. Tall would know if Mr. Crepsley was truly dead or not! I got out of my tent, and sprinted to Mr. Tall. My feet barely even touched the ground.

When I came up to the door of his trailer, I knocked once. No answer. Knocked again. No answer. I began to panic. I needed answers about my fa-mentor. My mentor. I needed to know if he was okay.

So I thought of knocking a polite third time, then if no answer, walk away. But I was too panicked to think clearly.

"MR. TALL- ANSWER THIS DAMN DOOR! HEY, YA HEAR ME? ANSWER THE DAMN DOOR!" I cried, tears streaming down my face. _Why am I so upset? _I thought this while I was pounding my hands rapidly on the door.

"Darren. Please, calm down." The familiar voice called out to me half way across the camp.

I turned around, and he was here. Mr. Tall.

"Why weren't you in your trailer?" I asked in a timid voice.

"I had some other things to attend to. What is it that you need, Darren?" Mr. Tall replied, in a calming voice.

"I need to ask you about-"

"Larten. I figured," He said, replying to the nod that I gave.

"Give me a moment." He closed his eyes and paused for a moment."He is alive. He is at Vampire Mountain, like he said he was going to be."

Relief filled through me, so powerful I almost fall!

"Then why hasn't he come back yet?"

"I don't know. Now, please go back to sleep Darren. We start packing when everybody's up. We leave before sunset."

I nod, and go back to my tent. When I fell asleep, that time, I didn't see Sam. I dreamed a dream. A real dream, the first time in months, if not years.

When I woke up, I got out of my tent to see the Cirque packing up. I went back inside my tent and got everything that I had packed up. It only took a few minutes because Evra had most of the stuff that we shared in our tent. I only had clothes, my hammock, and my journals. So in about 15 minutes, all of my tent was packed up.

I went out of my tent to see if anybody needed help, but when I walked out, I accidentally walked into...of course..._dammit..._

"Well _hello,_ halfie. How we doing today?" Chris sneered. He calls me halfie because he's a full werewolf. He turns into a wolf on command, ever since his dad died, he got the power. So whenever he wants, he could easily kill me in a wolf form. So he teases me because I'm only a half vampire. He doesn't-or rather, didn't- tease Mr. Crepsley because a vampire could easily kill a wolf like them. But a half vampire could be killed by them.

"Go away, Chris. Nobody wants to see you right now." I growled through my gritted teeth as I begun to walk away.

He grabbed my shoulder and spun me around and held me there, looking at his dog-ugly face.

"Bite me. I dare you. Hey, how's it been since Evra left you all alone? I heard that the little person, Harkat was it, had to take care of you? Can't function without mommy here, huh?"

"I'm warning you," I growled, " Let me go. NOW."

"Or what? You gonna fight a wolf that's as tall as Crepsley on all-fours?"

"I just might."

A lot of the cirque members had come out of their packing habits to see what was up. Evra had yet to show up, though I doubted if he was ever going to show up.

I tried to get out of Chris's grasp, but he kept me firm in his hands. So, I pushed with all of my strength. He actually flew back about 5 feet, stumbled and got back on his feet. I knew that I just made a mistake and probably shouldn't had done that.

He growled, and shouted "OH! LOOK AT THIS, HE WANTS TO FIGHT. WELL, LET'S GIVE HIM A FIGHT!" He jumped into the air, turned into a grey,with black streaks colored wolf.

He jumped at me, and knocked me on my feet. His muzzle was at my face when I kneed him in the gut, he backed off me whining and then growled. He looked pissed off.

I scrambled to my feet and started to run in the opposite direction towards the woods, but he charged at me and was literally snapping at my feet. If I didn't have my vampire powers to help me run, I would've died by now.

Some of the cirque members started to freak out when I was getting up and running, but they didn't have to worry for long, because he caught up with me.

He leaped at me when I was still running, and bit me in the hip. I fell down, screaming in agony. He tore off a chunk of flesh like a wolf eating a deer. I screamed and cried for help.

In the background, you could hear some of the Cirque members yelling and coming this way.

Chris was about to bite me again, when Mr. Tall grabbed him and literally, _threw _him away from me.

The Cirque members got here and gasped when they saw my hip. Mr. Tall was already working on it, but he looked doubtful.

"Darren, listen to me very carefully, okay?" I nodded. "Your hip will be damaged for a very long time; if not forever. You are going to limp very badly for a while until you get used to it. I am going to tell Larten about this when you are asleep. Now, I am going to take you into my tent and help you rest. Miranda, will you drive me and Darren?"

After that, everything was a blur. I went with Mr. Tall and rested in his trailer. I fell asleep. When I woke up, I was in my hammock and Mr. Tall was in my tent, and explained that we got here about ten hours ago and I was asleep for a while. Mr. Crepsley wasn't happy when he heard about my leg, but he's not going to come back. Chris was punished and now has to do my chores until I get better, and nobody knows when exactly that's going to be. So right now, I was just lying on my bed.

Harkat came into my room, and jumped on my bed.

"Hey, Darren. How's the leg?"

"Good." I answered while I was chewing some eggs I got from Hans when he brought me some food( I can't walk yet, so I asked some people to help me get food, water, change my clothes, stuff like that.) But the worst part was changing the bandages. Not only did it hurt like hell, but it looked horrible! With all the blood and marks, it looked like a wolf bit out of it and ate some of it. Oh wait, it did.

"Well, maybe sometime you and I could... do something fun."

"Maybe. My hip needs to heal though."

"I know. Hopefully you'll get...better soon."

"I know, I do too."

Harkat smiled up at me, and shook his head.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just dwelling...on memories."

"Like what?"

"The time you were burned after your trails. And how...Gavner and I called you Mr. sausage and Toasty."

"Ha-ha. Why ya thinkin' of those now?"

"Because back then...you couldn't move, let alone...walk. So it's kinda the same now only Mr. Crepsley isn't..." Harkat stopped before the end of his sentence because I'm still kinda sore about that.

But, I've changed. If he's not coming back, there's nothing I can do about that. I might see him again, might not.

"It's okay, Harkat. I'm over that. He can never come back and I won't care."

Harkat nodded and took a deep breathe through his mask."I'm glad. You were...freaking us out when he first left and you were all depressed."

I nodded and said my agreements to that.

After about a hour, Harkat left. He had to go back to the other little people and do some stuff with them. I have no idea what they do, but they run around in the forest.

"Bye, Darren. I'll see...you soon."

"Okay. Bye, Harkat."

He was about halfway out the door, when he turned and looked at me in the eyes.

"Y'know, Darren...you look like you should have some fun. Would you like to come with me?"

"no thanks, I'm kinda tired tonight. I think I'll just stay here and rest my leg."

"Ok. Bye Darren."

He turned around and left this time. A few minutes later, I could hear the whoops of the little people.

But as I was falling asleep, I thought of a scheme. A good one too. I think Harkat is right.

_Harkat was right, I was really depressed. I still am a little. _

_But he's right about one thing..._

_I need to have some _fun.

Well guys, how was it? Sorry for the long wait! But I tried to make it a little longer than the others. There's going to be a fight scene in the next chapter. Bet you guys can guess who it's going to be. Tell me in a review!

thanks for reviewing guys!


	6. Having Fun with Chris

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Darren Shan saga.(only my OC Uisce ) **

**The Cirque had to stay where they were before Darren and Chris fought because they didn't want to take any chances with Darren's leg bursting out bleeding or something when they were on the road.  
><strong>

Harkat was right. I needed fun, and I wanted to have some. I haven't had any fun since _he _left. I don't care that he's not coming back. Sure, it hurts, but that doesn't mean that I have to cry over spilled milk.

Evra has completely ignored me. When I could walk around instead of having to stay in bed, like I had to for about 5 days, and greeted him, he carried on as if I never said anything. When I tapped his shoulder, he just pretended that it never happened. Guess we aren't friends anymore. It's one of the worst feelings you can ever have. Losing a friend that stood by your side for so long.

But the good news is that I had Harkat, he would never betray me. I don't think he could even if he tried. He didn't even flinch when they changed my bandages today. It wasn't as bloody as most days, but it was still a deep gash. I can walk around, yes, but I limp very badly. The muscle is going to permanently damaged but Mr. Tall said that I will over come it and be able to walk around again after a few months.

I was told that I shouldn't walk around so much right now and I completely agree. It hurts so much whenever I put pressure on my leg, let alone walk on it. But in order to have my fun, I have to move around. So I need to be able to run, walk and jump. And I was on a time limit. I had 2 weeks to have my fun before the cirque packs up and heads for where ever we were going next.

Every night, when everybody's asleep, I sneaked out and jogged around the cirque. It hurt so much, but I had to exercise the muscles in my leg before I can go have my fun.

Tonight when I was exercising my leg, I was almost caught. I had to run farther into the forest than I was already in order to not be caught. I always returned really sweaty from my runs. It took a shower and some sleep, but it's all worth it. The plan I had for fun was going to be hard to pull off, but it was going to be spectacular.

I got out of my hammock and stretched. Everybody was asleep, so now was the moment to go and prepare for my fun. When I thought I was ready to go, I put on my shoes and started to jog. The pain already stabbed at my hip and I wanted to stop, but I kept going. Every day I went farther into the woods. So far I'm getting pretty good, but I still have a long way to go. It usually took around 5 minutes for me to run to where I go and 5 minutes to run back.

When I ran, I usually thought of stuff that was bugging me and was on my mind.

_I wonder what Mr. Crepsley would do if he knew what I was up to..._

_Why am I even thinking about him? He's not coming back, nor will he ever. Just...forget about him... _

The thought made me slow down to a stop. Forget...Mr. Crepsley? How could I do that? He's like a father to me...

I snapped my head up and look in the direction to my left. _I swear that I heard scuffling..._ I studied it for a few more seconds then started to run again. In the end, I went back early because I wasn't in the mood to run after the thought of just...forgetting Mr. Crepsley.

I mean...could I do that...after all we've been through? The trails, Murlough, me falling into the stakes, me not drinking blood, him teaching me the ways of the vampires, he being there for everything like protecting me and most importantly, him destroying himself out of grief when I had died and spent some time with Sam. I still can't believe that he did that. _He was so pale, even for a vampire._

I lied down in my hammock and closed my eyes. Little did I know that the next time I closed my eyes, I would be on the verge of death.

When I woke up the next morning, Harkat came up to me immediately when I woke up.

"Darren- you'll never believe...what had happened last night!" Harkat said while I rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

"What?"

"The police had found where... we were camping! They are doing an investigation right now!"

Hearing this, I immediately jumped over to the tent door. I opened the flap to see a bunch of cop cars and police officers searching around.

"They said that they are going to search your tent as soon as you woke up, so I...came over here to wait until you woke up because they need you out ASAP."

"Um...yeah about that Harkat, I need to go out on a...walk" I lied.

"A walk, well... I'll come with you-"

"NO! I mean, no need Harkat. I'll be back before you know it."

"Darren, are you feeling...alright? You seem...off."

"No, I'm fine,Harkat. I'll be back in a while."

"WAIT- I almost forgot...Mr. Tall said that he spoke with Mr. Crepsley last night."

That stopped me dead in my tracks.

"W-what did they say Harkat?" I murmured, my voice shaking.

"Well, Mr. Crepsley said for you...to just forget about him. He's not going to come back after all...or to be more specific, at all."

My heart just cracked.

He's not...coming back. At all, ever. To think that last night, I thought that the thought of forgetting him was bad. Now he TOLD me to forget about him...

"Okay, Harkat. Thank you." I said, barely able to keep the pain out of my voice. But I didn't manage to keep the tears in. I bolted out of my tent, tears streaming down my face.

"Darren! You shouldn't do that- not with... how bad your leg is!"

I never stopped running when I shouted "To Hell with my leg, I don't care anymore!"

I ran up to where I planned to have my so called "fun." But now, it doesn't even feel like I need to have fun. I thought it was just until he came back, then everything would go back to normal. But apparently not.

He's gone forever.

He's not coming back.

He said to forget about him.

_Well then, I will have one last moment of fun. Even if it's the last thing I'll do!_

I slowed down once I got up to the cliffs. They were much larger than I had imagined. I looked over the edge, _HOLY CRAP!_, and pulled back. They were AT LEAST 100 feet. And it didn't help at all that it was starting to rain. The thunder boomed in the air. The waves were dark, and were crashing against the cliff walls, splashing up water as it did so.

Lightning was flashing across the sky and I was starting to have second thoughts when I heard a bush rustling behind me. I tuned and saw the one person that I always hate to see.

Chris was standing from the bushes, smirking his evil smirk.

"Hey halfie. How are you doing? I heard about Creepsley. Yeah, I stole that name from your friend Steve. Evra told me about what you told him about Steve. Poor guy, really. All he ever wanted was a friend and to be a vampire. And you took both of those things away from him. You really are a jerk."

"Oh, I'm the jerk! I'm not the one that took a bite out of my leg!"

"We were fighting. It was a accident. I can't control myself in my wolf form. But," Chris smiled, taking out a knife. "I can control myself in my human form."

I looked at the knife. If I were to get stabbed by that, it would hurt. A LOT.

"W-what are you doing, Chris?" I asked, taking a step back.

"Everybody is sick of you, Halfie. They don't wanna see you in this," he stopped and smirked. "pain. That the _vampire_ put you in. After all, he isn't coming back. Actually, He didn't tell Harkat to tell you one thing. He skipped it, so that your 'feelings' wouldn't get hurt beyond fixing. You see, Larten said that he wasn't coming back. That part you know, right?"

I stood there, shaking with rage. _What did he say you-_ I nodded a slight nod.

"Good. Well, he also said that the reason he wasn't coming back was because he didn't want to deal with you anymore."

I jumped back, then sprung forward. The only thought that I was thinking was: _I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!_

"BULL! HE CARED FOR ME!"

Chris dodged all of my attacks, and laughed after hearing what I had said.

"Keyword: Cared. He doesn't anymore."

Hatred, not wanting to believe it, rage, I don't know what made me do this next part. I flat out started to attack Chris like I would've vampaneze. I lashed out with my nails, jumped,bit, nothing seemed to faze him.

"I'M SO SICK OF YOU! I WANT YOU TO DIE!" I shouted at Chris.

Chris laughed and shrugged. "Hey, join the club. I want to kill you."

We stopped fighting for a while, standing and trying to catch our breath.

"I have a deal for you, Darren."

I looked into his evil eyes. His mouth twisted into a smile. Just like Steve's when he was about to kill.

_He is truly evil. Why did you friend him Evra?_

"What is it?" I asked.

"Well, since we both want to kill each other so much, why don't we have a fight to the death? After all, we both want the other gone don't we? What do you say? Deal?"

I didn't even think about what I was doing next. I took out my switch blade knife.

Chris whistled as he saw the knife. "Where'd ya get a knife like that?"

I shrugged. "You always want to be prepared when you fight on a daily basis with vampaneze."

"I thought that you didn't fight them very much."

"I don't. I'm just always ready."

The rain was heavy now. Our bodies were soaked from the rain, and lightning was flashing everywhere. Thunder boomed in our ears as we prepared for the fight that would take one of our lives.

"Hey, Chris." It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

"Yes?"

"Deal."

He smiled and, surprising both of us, I smiled the same smile back.

He nodded, and the fight began.

Both of us were yelling when we ran towards each other. Our knifes hit each other and made a loud _clang_. I wasn't used to fighting with knifes; I preferred my sword, but if I had to fight with a knife, like now, I would do just as much damage.

We traded many scrapes, cuts, bruises, and broken bones. I cut his face, he cuts my arm. We were fast and damaging each other pretty badly. I'm pretty sure that if we had swords instead of knifes, we would have died a long time ago. Chris quickly went in for the killer blow to my head when I ducked a shot to the head, but he wasn't fast enough. I kicked his legs, forcing him to fall to the ground. I quickly stood up before he could and jumped back(about 5 feet) and landed in a crouched position. Chris stood up, took his knife and aimed it at my head. I had experience with people throwing knifes at me, so I knew when and where to dodge. But apparently, so did Chris.

He pretended to throw it, so that way, I would dodge it, as a reflex, and then throw it at me. He thought that it would work.

Well, it did.

I flinched when he threw nothing and jumped to the left. But as soon as I knew what he was doing, it was already too late. The knife had hit me. It hit me in my lower ribs. It didn't puncture anything as far as I could tell. But it did break a lot of the ribs.

I took the knife out and used it to my advantage.

I laughed an evil laugh. One that didn't belong to me. It sounded like the mad vampaneze, Murlough's laugh. It scared me. "Well, well, well. Look what we have here. You don't have a weapon. But lemme tell you a secret: I DO!" I screamed as I threw it at him.

It landed in his shoulder when he let out an agonizing scream. He took it out and the blood from his wound spread everywhere on his shirt in no time. He stumbled towards me and put a hand on my shoulder. We were in such bad shape, that we could barely even stand. Not to mention that we were both shaking uncontrollably.

We were close to the end of our battle. We were both weak, tired, lost _a lot_ of blood and were covered in scratches.

I took my knife and plunged it into his stomach. Repeatedly. His groans were bad. He leaned on me, fully for support. I stumbled backwards towards the edge of the cliff from all the weight. I knew that I had to get farther away from the edge, not closer and soon. But I couldn't, it was too much. I did manage to stop about 3 feet from the edge though.

Chris started to speak, but it came out more of a whisper than a voice though.

"Y-you fight good. Won-wonder iff you woould have wonnn iff I-I fo...fought fa-fair."

"Wh-what are yo-you taalk-" I started to ask before a knife went into my hip. The one that was damaged. My weakest point.

But Chris wasn't the one to just stab a spot. He would open up a wound and bring out all the things that you regret. He took the knife and twirled it around in my hip, opening the wound back up. He was still leaning on me, I couldn't take all this weight alone.

Blood spilled down my leg as I staggered back. On the last step I took before we went off the cliff's edge, I swear that I heard Mr. Crepsley's voice calling me. Just like he did when he was calling me to come to him to do some chores, go feed with him, or even just hang out and play cards.

But he was never there. It was just the lack of blood messing with my mind.

_He's never coming back. He said so. He's never going to be able to save me now. He might come down if there's a funeral though. But I doubt it. After all, Chris said that he's not coming back because of me._

Chris and I fell down ,off the cliffs and into the sea. As soon as we hit the ice cold water, we knew we were in trouble. This was the place Mr. Tall had said so many people had died in bad storms like this. By just swimming a little off shore and being found in open water in the middle of the ocean. Well, now chris and I can tell you why that is. The current is too strong, and we can't even get up for air. So not only did the impact of the water feel like cement and weakened me even further, I can't get air or even pull against the currents. With what little I had, I though just a few thoughts before all Hell broke loose.

_I am going to die down here. I hope that they can find my body and give me a nice funeral._

Harkat sat down on Darren's hammock and waited for Darren to get back from his walk. Or where ever he went. The storm was getting really fierce. _I hope Darren's okay._ _He seemed really sad when I told him about Mr. Crepsley. Though I never told him why he isn't coming back. He feels really bad about Darren getting killed because he blames himself for everything. He wanted me to tell Darren that he cares for him and will hopefully stay in touch. He also wanted to say that he misses him a lot._

Harkat sighed and stood up, throwing the hammock off a little.

Suddenly, a book fell out from underneath Darren's pillow. Harkat recongized that book. It was his journal!

The journal flipped to the latest entry where a bookmark was kept so he could find the page he left off on easier.

Harkat read the last entry and gasped. He ran out of the tent yelling for Mr. Tall to contact Mr. Crepsley immediately.

_It has been 5 months since Mr. Crepsley had sent any word . Today, he finally has, and it's not good. He said that he isn't coming back. My heart cracked and I cried as soon as I heard this. Lady Evanna had put a spell on my journals so that they could update even when I can't. We have a plan. But I can't tell you about it yet. _**(A/N: The plan is that Darren writes all the journals then gives it to Mr. Tall to give to him when he's grown up so he can publish them and warn people about everything.) **_But anyway, I am currently in the ocean. Chris and I had a huge fight and we fought to the death. I think that I had won, but I'm not sure. The reason we fought was because I didn't believe him when he said that Mr. Crepsley isn't coming back because he didn't want to deal with me anymore. But you know what? I do now. It makes sense now. But right now, I am out of air and have lost a lot of blood. So I think to myself:I am going to die down here. I hope that they can find my body and give me a nice funeral. _

_And then all Hell broke loose. _

**Hey guys! Sorry I didn't update for a while! Hopefully, this long chapter will make up for it! hope you guys liked it. It was kinda sad, I know. But it will get better! I promise.**

**Please review!**


	7. Staying Alive

**Well guys. It's almost to an end of this. Either this one or the next one and that's it for TSRH and Asphyxiate. But don't freak out, I have more on the way. I have two ideas that I am dying to get started on! Hahaha anyway, if you like this story so far, check out Serpentines Debut by helen fisher. ((DO NOT OWN THIS OR KNOW THE AUTHOR)) It's really good and one of my favs :D hope you check it out!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Darren Shan saga.(only my OC Uisce ) **

All Hell had broke loose.

After I had thought about what would happen to my body when I died, the currents had started to rise again, only this time, I didn't spin around in circles like I usually did. I wish. This time, when the waves hit the edge of the cliff, the current followed the waves crashing into the rocks.

Then pulled me back under water and forced me back to smack against the cliff's rocks.

Eventually, the blood from the cliff smacking was causing some black spots in my vision.

And with all my oxygen gone, I can confirm one thing.

_I now know how the people died. The currents were too strong to fight and the people would either drown or end up like me: with the cliffs._

The cliffs were staring to make me very lightheaded and dizzy. Even without no oxygen, which wasn't helping either.

When I finally got away from the cliffs, I managed to get up to the surface to breathe. It was still raining and there was lightning everywhere. But with my first breath, The waves crashed down on me. The water traveled straight to my lungs, where I had to cough the water out, but when it automatically did that, more water came in. I had no oxygen, was low on blood, and was getting weaker by the minute. This was not good.

I kept trying to get out of the water and into the air above me. I tried letting the currents guiding me, but that didn't work. Tried to break through the currents, didn't work. Go down and come up, didn't work. I was really going to die here.

I stopped everything I was doing and finally accepted death. Hey, I died once right? I relaxed myself and was just floating with the currents when I heard a voice in my head.

_Darren! What are you doing? You can't give up now! Get up! Come on! I know you can do it!_

I opened my eyes to see Sam there, with me. He was tugging my arm, as if he could pull me to the surface. _PLEASE, DARREN! YOU HAVE TO TRY!_

"Sam? What are you doing here?"

_Darren,pleaaaseee. You have to try. Please please._

Sam floated right next to me. He looked like he was crying. He closed his eyes and rested his head on my shoulder.

_Please. If not for me, for everybody that you know. Mr. Crepsley, Evra, Mr. Tall, somebody. Darren, please. I need you to try. I want you to break your promise and go and live. I don't care if I get to see you again, I just need you to try. Please, Darren. Please._

"Sam, I don't have any air to go on. I need air."

Sam looked up and me and thought for a moment.

_If you try, I will help you get air. _

I nodded and moved up while Sam moved down.

He pushed on my feet as I pushed myself up, giving me the force of two instead of one.

_Thank you, Darren. Thanks for trying again._

_Thank you, Sam. Thanks for helping me try._

The currents were strong and were hard to break, but I eventually did it. I got up and pushed until I broke free toward the surface.

I gasped and greedily took in a bunch of a much needed air.

I did my best to stay above the water, and it worked a little. I was still weak and needed blood, energy and lots of other things for me to start to be healthy enough to get out of here. So I did the best thing that I could in a time like this. I screamed. I screamed for help, for the Cirque, even for somebody to throw me a rope to climb up on. Then, I had a brilliant idea.

Eventually, I heard a response.

"DARREN! HOLD ON!" I looked up to see almost all of the Cirque. Including somebody very useful to me in this dire moment. Uisce, my friend that can breathe underwater. She even has gills on her neck.

Just as she was about to jump, she gasped and screamed. The other Cirque members started to shout my name and to hold on, we'll get you soon.

I didn't know what they were talking about, but when I did, I was positive that I was going to die.

The waves came crashing down onto me. Once again, filling my lungs with water. The currents were dying down, so I could go back up to the surface.

Once I did though, the same thing happened again. Waves filled my lungs, spun me around when I was pushed me down. I came back up, same thing.

On my last attempt at getting and staying on the surface, I was pushed so down into the water and spun around so much that I didn't know which way was up anymore. My leg was too sore and tired to even think about considering to get back up. It didn't matter anyway, all the air was gone. No more air rested in my lungs.

I tried to swim in one way, but I think it was the wrong way because I felt something on my shoulder. I panicked and struggled away from whatever had grabbed a hold on me. Bad idea. The last thing that I saw was Uisce pulling my arm back up to the surface.

I could barely hear, but I could hear what was going around me. But not all of it. It felt like I was going to die all over again.

_Is he OK? _

_He's not breathing!_

_Heartbeat ...nd dropping._

_Somebody ... medic!_

_We can't...find us._

_Heartbeat...stopped. We need a..._

_Darren hold on..._

_HEART STOPPED!_

_Not breathing either...we do?_

_Nothing...I think he's..._

Then Everything went black and I couldn't hear anything.

Let alone, think,breath, or feel.

I could literally feel my body fading away for the third time.

_HARKAT POV_

They had told me to stay while they go and find Darren. I hated waiting. I wanted to know what was going on and if he was...dead again. They had contacted Mr. Crepsley and had told him that they will keep him updated on what was going on. But, thankfully, Mr. Tall said that he was going to stay here with me to keep Mr. Crepsley in touch and me company.

Mr. Tall said their conversation out loud so that I could listen in on what they were saying.

It must've been an hour after they had left to go and get Darren when We heard shouting coming from where they had left. It was small at first, but it gradually got louder as they got closer. We couldn't understand them at all at first because they were so far away, but as they got closer we jumped to our feet and started to run out towards them once we had heard what they were saying.

They were shouting "His heart's stopped! He's not breathing! Help!"

***5 minutes later***

After CPR for a few minutes, they had declared Darren dead. We are about to contact Mr. Crepsley and tell him about Darren. Though Mr. Tall isn't happy about doing so. He doesn't want to say why, but he said that we shouldn't rush to conclude his death.

When they had brought Darren and Chris back, I was shocked beyond belief. Darren was covered in cuts and bruises. His hip was literally overflowing with blood and you wouldn't believe how much his face looked like it hurt(later I learned it was from him smacking into cliffs). Darren wasn't breathing and I was told that his heart wasn't beating.

Chris was conscious and looked fine. He had multiple cut wounds though. Scratches on his face and arms, but he looked fine compared to Darren. When asked where he was, they said that he had stayed on the cliffs. He pushed Darren off the cliffs into the ocean and just lied down on the ground and waited for help to come.

We walked into Mr. Tall's trailer and sat down on his couches.

The only people in the room were me, Mr. Tall and Evra. He cried when he first saw Darren and had to be dragged away from Darren for a while, so he came with us to tell Mr. Crepsley what had happened to Darren.

Mr. Tall said that he was going to put the voices in our heads so he wont' have to repeat himself. We couldn't put in our own voices because we didn't have that power. So we could only listen in.

_*** = Mr. Tall**_

_**/ = Mr. Crepsley**_

_**Larten? Larten? Are you there, Larten? ***_

_**Aye. I am here. Any news on Darren? /**_

_**Yes. But unfortunately, it's only bad news. ***_

_**What? What is it? /**_

_**Well, Larten, I am afraid to say that Darren has passed on. He's no longer with us. ***_

_For a few moments, nothing was said. We remained quite, except for tears and sobs, there was no movement. _

_**He...He is dead. Are you sure? /**_

_**Yes. His heart had stopped and he isn't breathing. He's gone, Larten. ***_

_A few more moments of silence. Then Mr. Crepsley had returned and you could hear his pain and tears in his voice. _

_'He must be crying really hard if we can hear it in our heads.' thought Harkat._

_**Then I am coming down for his funeral, to say goodbye, and to apologize for not being there for him. I am leaving at this moment. I have asked permission to flit, and it was granted. I shall be there in a day, maybe two. Thank you for the news. Goodbye. /**_

"So Mr. Crepsley's coming back to say goodbye to Darren? That's really nice of him." Evra pointed out.

"Yes. Come, we should prepare Darren for his funeral." Mr. Tall mumbled under his breath, standing up.

"Can you tell Mr. Crepsley that I said I am sorry for his loss...later for me?" I asked Mr. Tall.

"No. Larten has...turned off all of his telepathic connections for the time being. He doesn't want to be disturbed right now."

As we went into Darren's tent, we saw something that had made my day for the rest of my life.

They had checked Darren's heartbeat one last time, to make SURE he was dead, and they had found that it was beating again. Slow, but it was beating.

_Darren's POV_

_flashback_

_During my screaming rant, I had a brilliant idea. I took some of the black liquid that Mr. Crepsley had given me to make it look like I was dead when I was first turned. I got some before Mr. Crepsley had left so that way, if it was ever an emergancy, it would help me look dead. Not only that, but it would take away all the pain. _

_SO I drank it and then I saw the Cirque members. _

_***few shots later***_

_Under the water, the black liquid was starting to kick in, and I was starting to black out. This liquid would make it easier for them to find me and it would take away the pain for a while._

I am here to say that it worked incredibly well.

They had thought that I actually died though. But, hey who am I to complain? I'm just glad that it didn't really kill me like Mr. Crepsley had said. After I had taken it.

That man had some serious problems, I'm telling you! (**A/N I don't agree with this- I am a Larten Crepsley fangirl)**

I had a lot of sleep to help heal my cuts and other wounds. So out of 24 hours in the day, I slept for about 18. After a day or two, I had fallen into a deep sleep. But it was so cold, that I pulled the blanket over my head and lied perfectly still. If you just now saw me, I promise you that you would've thought I was dead.

I was in such a deep sleep that I never heard anything for the first few hours.

But after a while, it started to get cold again. I barely opened my eyes to see that the blanket was pulled off of me and there was a man's shadow on the wall I was looking at. It looked a lot like...

I heard/saw the man and his shadow fall to his knees and start to sob. He put his hands on his eyes to try and wipe away the tears. I closed my eyes again to hope that when I woke up that this loon would be gone and I could wait for more updates on my mentor.

After about a 5 minute sleep, somebody put their head on my chest and cried their heart out.

I opened my eyes to see not only my mentor was the one on my chest crying, he was apologizing for everything!

_Mr. Crepsley's POV_

He is dead. He is gone. I cannot believe this. I walk into his tent to see a blanket pulled over my assistant. I pull it back and see his pale face. He is truly dead. I started to cry. I put my hand on his face and pulled it back just as fast. I can't help but "cry my heart out" as he would say.

I fall to my knees. I cannot believe this. I cry for a good five minutes before I put my head genitally on his chest and sob into his shirt. I felt that now was a good time to confess for everything I had done to cause him to die.

I mumbled the first part into his shirt so nobody could hear what I said about I viewing him as my only family in the world and how much I had loved him as a family member should. But mostly as a son I loved him. He viewed me as a vampire father, I could tell. So why can I not view him as my vampire son?

I then said my apologies for all of this to happen.

"I am so sorry Darren! I cannot believe that this has happened to you, my loyal assistant. I am so sorry. If I had told you from the start what the Red Change was, maybe you would be alive today. I am so sorry, I can't even tell you how sorry I am, Darren. Please forgive me. And when I die, I will be able to tell you all of this. I am so sorry for leaving. I am just so damn sorry Darren!" I could not say anymore, for my speech was cut off because I was crying too hard.

_**Darren's POV**_

I couldn't believe what i had just heard. My mentor, MR. CREPSLEY, had just...no way. This is crazy. I kept my eyes shut, not wanting him to see my tears that were slowly forming.

But, by a horrible mistake, I fell asleep, leaving Mr. Crepsely to believe I was dead.

When I woke up, I saw that it was at least noon. Mr. Crepsley had pulled up a chair by my side and was snoozing it in.

I got up and jumped off my hammock into him, knocking us both to the ground.

He could NOT believe what was going on. He was pissed as hell at first, but then he looked at who dared do this to him. He gasped and went into shock before hugging me and holding me close to his chest. He started to cry and was trying to talk. ( He told me what he had said later, so I'll just tell you now. He was saying it too low for me to understand until I asked him about it.)

"I thought that you had died. I did not want to leave you until you were buried. Thank the gods, how are you here? I thought that you were...I checked for myself too!"

"I know, I know. I'm sorry. I drank some of that stuff that you gave me before when I was faking my death, and when you were checking on me I was asleep. I'm so sorry Mr. Crepsley."

"Yes, I suppose that makes sense, but-"

"Mr. Crepsely." He stopped talking and looked down at me. He looked as confused as everybody else was. But until I explained it to him, I just said this:

"I promised you that I wouldn't die on you remember? When you went down to get your cloak from Seba after I had come back into the living world and away from Sam in Paradise, you said, and I quote, "DO NOT EVER DO THAT TO ME AGAIN! DO. YOU. HEAR". So why would I break my promise?" I asked, smiling up at him.

We got up from the floor and looked at each other for a while.

"How was everything at Vampire Mountain?" I asked, smiling at him.

We laughed and started to exchange our stories of what had happened while we were gone.

And for once, things were finally going my way.

**OK guys! This has to be my favorite chapter of all of my stories so far :D The next one is going to be an Epilogue for this though :) I can't believe that I am already done with it! haha But thanks to my reviewers and hope you guys enjoyed this! Next chapter will give you knowledge of what happened to Chris when Mr. Crepsley finds out that he's the reason for most of this! :D Can't wait to write THAT! He deserves it though, and we all know it ;)**

**There will be more of Darren and Mr. Crepsley! **

**Here's a SMALL spoiler for one of the next stories that I am writing:**

**Darren Shan/ Cirque du Freak Saga/Harry Potter crossover**

**Excited yet? Haha thanks again guys!**


	8. Epilogue

**OK guys! this is it. The final chapter to The Stakes Raised High/Asphyxiate. This is an epilogue to the story so it's going to be kinda a wrap up to what had happened after the chapter before this one.**  
><strong>I can't believe that I am almost done with it. It's been a few months since I started it! <strong>  
><strong>Haha thanks to all of those who have reviewed, supported, nagged me to continue,messaged me some AWESOME stuff, and looked over my work! You guys all get virtual hugs! 3 haha X3 <strong>

**so shout outs to you guys who stood out from everybody!**

**Kberry, Thehotgingerone, Vampanezegirl97,Raven1454, BrizzyBabber and BeautifulNoMatterWhat! **

**Thank you guys for everything! I hope that you guys will like my future stories and other things that will pop into my head to write later on! Glad that you like it and thanks for all the things you do!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything but my OC. SHOULDN'T YOU KNOW THAT BY NOW!**

A few days had passed since Mr. Crepsley had found that I was alive. I still slept for about twenty hours a day. When I wasn't asleep, I would go and walk (or at least try too) around the cirque with the help of my friends.

Speaking of friends, Evra came into my tent the day after I first woke up and apologized for everything that had happened. He admitted that he was a jerk and he regrets it immensely. I forgave him but on one condition. He had to tell me why he did what he did.

"Well, I don't really know. But I think that I did it because he told me things about you that I didn't want to believe. But after a while, they started making sense. He told me that I should hang out with him because he wouldn't ever let anything ever happen like this again to me." Evra stared at his feet. "I really am sorry, Darren."

"It's okay, Evra. Let's just put it behind us. Okay?" I said, smiling up at him.

Evra's face beamed up as he nodded his head.

Chris...

I couldn't wait to see what damage I did to HIM!

***the next day!***

I woke up and yawned, stretched, and rubbed all the sleep from my eyes. I looked to the left, expecting to find Mr. Crepsley sitting right there, waiting for me. But today (or was it night? I could never tell until I went outside...) he wasn't there.

Shrugging, I pulled on my shirt and went outside. It wasn't morning yet, but it was about to be in a few hours. So, I guessed it was about three in the morning?

Barely anybody was up because of the show we had the night before. So I went over to the fire and put water on it to put it out completely.

_I'll get some wood later during my run_, I thought. Speaking of which, I looked around, finding no one around. If Mr. Crepsley, Evra, or Harkat didn't come in about five minutes, I'd have to go by myself. I sighed and put my face in one of my hands. They always hate it when I do that. Apparently, I can't go running without help.

I sat down on the log and waited for about ten minutes, then got up and started to run into the meadows outside of the Cirque.

I felt my hip starting to protest before I pushed it harder. Mr. Crepsley had said that it wasn't a good thing when I did that, but I thought that maybe it would help it get stronger. After all, you push yourself in gym to get stronger, right?

Sweat started to streak down my face after a few minutes of straight-out sprinting. My breath started to turn into pants and I started to slow down. My hip had started to scream out in pain at me. I actually stopped for a while and had to sit down to keep myself from fainting. The first night I had done that was with Mr. Crepsley and Harkat. They weren't so happy when I woke up. They said I wasn't supposed to run alone for a while until I got better.

I got a little sick when I was recovering. I say it was from the infection that had set in on my hip, but Mr. Crepsley said that it was from all the pushing myself over the limit crap. But I didn't believe him.

Anyway, I sat there, panting and wiping sweat off of me. After a while, I got really tired and laid down. I closed my eyes for maybe a few seconds when I heard some footsteps running towards me.

"Darren, get up. You look like you have died again. Have you not been drinking blood again? You know how it affects you!" I look up to see, who else, Mr. Crepsley shaking his head down at me.

"Nah, I just pushed myself over the limit again. Hey, don't give me that look!" Darren snapped playfully at Mr. Crepsley, who had raised one of his eyebrows at Darren.

"Darren, you are an idiot! You should know that you shouldn't push yourself over the limit. Your leg is not healed or ready to be pushed so hard. Come, let us go back to the Cirque now. Dawn is on its way." Mr. Crepsley said.

We started to walk off towards the Cirque as I told Mr. Crepsley what I had done to my leg. He wanted to know how long did I run, how fast did I run, and how much it had hurt during my run.

About half-way there, Mr. Crepsley had asked me something that I never imagined he would have asked in my wildest dreams.

"Darren, nobody had ever told me how you had gotten that injury. You had told me that you had gotten in a fight a few times after Evra had betrayed you. But who exactly did you get in a fight with?"

I stopped walking and looked at him wondering if I should tell him or not. I hadn't seen the damage I had done to Chris, and I wanted to see him before I told my mentor.

"Well. I dunno if I should tell you. I mean, I wanted to get revenge on him for what he had said to me about you. But, I got it. I haven't seen him, but I got what I wanted. If you really want to know, ask me later. After I see him, okay?"

He nodded.

"By the way, how was that new boy that had arrived a few days before we came-what was his name? Christopher?"

"Chris. And he was...a challenge."

"He seemed like a very nice man. You know, I knew his mother. Very nice woman. Too bad that she passed away though."

I mumbled some things about him under my breath. "What was that?" Mr. Crepsley half heartily said.

"Nothing, just me saying how ama-" I stopped and gasped as I fell to the ground.

My hip had had enough for that night. And I felt every last bit of its protest. I groaned and held my hip. Mr. Crepsley turned around and bent down next to me.

"Are you alright?"

"My hip hurts too much to go on. Sorry."

Mr. Crepsley sighed and picked me up. "This is why you cannot run by yourself and push yourself over the limit anymore."  
>He kept going on and on about this. I wished that he would stop sometimes.<p>

Then Mr. Crepsley had asked more about Chris.

"What did he do when I was gone? Did you become friends?"

I almost laughed at this. FRIENDS?

"Um...no. NOT AT ALL!"

"Well, then what did he do?" Mr. Crepsley pressed on.

Well, I suspect that all of you know how mature I am, how smart I am, and above all, how devilishly handsome I am. But that doesn't mean that I can't make mistakes.

"He's the CENSORED WORDS that I got in fights with and gave me my hip injury."

Mr. Crepsley had stopped so abruptly that I almost fell out of his arms.

"HE IS THE ONE THAT DID THAT TOO YOU! Oh..." He yelled so loud that he actually echoed around.

Them he started to flit straight to the Cirque. He dropped by my tent and dropped me in my hammock. Then he flitted out of there and straight to wherever Chris was.

The poor soul...

I wanted to go and stop Mr. Crepsley but I was so tired that as soon as he put me down, I fell asleep.

***the next day***

I woke up about sunset and I was just in time for dinner. I walked out of the tent and over to the fire where all the food was waiting for me on the grill. I sat down on a log got a hot dog off a stick and started eating it.

Evra sat down next to me and we started to chat about what we did that day. Mostly, it was what he did because what I did all day was sleep.

"Hey, do you still have to replace your bandages?" Evra asked me when he was chewing his food.

I thought about this for a moment, trying to remember if I changed them yet.

"Um...I don't think I have. Will you help me tonight?"

"Yeah, sure."

We went into my tent, and Evra helped me take off my shorts while I undid the bandages. He looked away until I told him he could look. He didn't want to "disturb me in anyway." Whatever that means.

He did, however, cringe when he looked at the wound.

I guessed it wasn't that bad, but when I looked at it, it almost made me throw up.

The wound was healing, but it was taking its time. The red flesh was bloody and bruised, but it was still better than what it looked like it did the first time. (I'm NOT going into detail on THAT!)

Just as Evra had started looking for the spray to squirt on the wound, we started to hear somebody coming. Evra, being the awesome friend, told them that now was a bad time and to go away.

But it turned out that it was Hans. He called through the tent door, "Sorry to interrupt, but Larten is looking for you guys. He said that he needed to replace the bandages and tell you guys something. What do you want me to tell him?"

Evra glanced at me then back at the door. "Tell him that we are currently working on the bandages right now but he can come and tell us whatever he needed to, though."

Hans walked away and Evra continued on the search for the antibacterial spray.

After a few minutes of no luck with the spray, Mr. Crepsley could be heard running towards us. He slowed down a little before barging into our tent. He ran a hand through his hair and walked over to Evra.

"What are you doing?"

"Helping Darren replace his bandages. But I needed the spray so I'm looking for it."

They both looked at me, but when Mr. Crepsley had seen the wound, his eyes had almost tripled in size! He took a step towards me and knelt next to me. His hand hovered over my wound as he looked at it. He barely touched it, and I groaned in pain. He jerked his hand back and then he just stared at the wound.

I motioned Evra to hurry up and find it, and he obliged. He found it within ten minutes.

When he needed to put it on, Mr. Crepsley wouldn't budge, so we had to make me stand up, and move out of the way. When Evra had sprayed it on, it stung, but then he put the bandages on. It felt so good! Epically with the ice pack that went over it.

They kept telling me that as soon as I put on my bandages, I had to go to sleep. I did just that. Mr. Crepsley had gotten up when Evra was leaving and told us both something.

That if we heard screaming, growling,barking,cursing,fighting, or anything out of the ordinary, that we should just stay in our tent.

We nodded and he left. Then Evra asked if he did a good job putting on the bandages, if I'll be okay, if I needed anything, stuff like that. After I had totally reassured him that I was alright (it took like 30 frigging' minutes!) I started drifting off to sleep.

But not before I heard some yelling, and a wolf snarling.

-the next day!-

I woke up about forty five minutes from sun set, so I could get up before Mr. Crepsley if I wanted to. But my stomach disagreed and made me go get some food.

As I walked out of the tent, I saw everybody looking in one direction. Then I looked over to find the grass turned up in several spots, blood splattered in other places, and a lot of scratch marks in the ground. Like...claw marks from...CHRIS!

I gasped in surprise and ran to where the tent I was looking for was.

I entered the tent to find that he was wrapped in bandages in most places on his body. He was conscious, but he didn't look like he was in a very good mood. He turned his head and his eyes immediately had hatred in them.

"What do you want?" Chris barked.

I put my hands up and shook my head.

"I wanted to know a few things from you. Is now a good time?"

Chris shrugged and turned his head the other way. "Depends on what you wanna know."

I went over to the little stool by his bed and sat on it. "I want to know just three things. Why you were so mean to me, what happened last night, and what's going to happen to you now?"

He snapped his head around so fast I thought that his neck snapped. He just stared at me, not even blinking nor breathing. After a while, he sighed and went back to his original position.

"To the answers to your questions, I was mean because I didn't like you. You had everything that I wanted. I don't want to be a dog, I want to be a vampire, but I can't. And you have so many friends here. I don't. So I guess I was jealous. Then what happened last night? I got into a fight that I shouldn't have. It almost cost me my life. That's all I am saying on that one. And what's going to happen is...well, I can't say. But you'll find out soon enough. Now, I answered all of your questions. If that's all, leave," Chris growled.

I turned and walked out of the tent and went to go eat some dinner.

***line***

I was eating a hot dog when Mr. Crepsley came out of his tent. He had a few scratches, but nothing scar like. He stretched then made his way over to me. He sat down next to me.

"I am sorry about what had happened to you while I was away, Darren. It was not wise of me to leave you here with a dog. I should have-"

"What happened last night?" I interrupted him.

"Well, I fought Christopher. He turned into a wolf and I fought him. When I thought he had learned his lesson, I told him to stay away from my assistant and not to bother me nor him ever again." He had grown a smirk while saying this.

I looked down at my plate. I should've felt like the world was just handed to me; Mr. Crepsley had just fought Chris for me. But instead, I felt ashamed.

I stood up and started to walk away. Then walking turned to running then sprinting. I was running faster than I had ever run before. When I was about to fall to the ground from lack of energy, I stopped. Then I looked down. It was the exact spot that Chris and I had the fight, and where I fell into the water.

Well, the night was beautiful. So, I guess it wouldn't be that bad...

So, I took a deep breath and jumped into the water, off the cliff, to the place where I had almost drowned.

***line***

I swam up to the surface. Then I went over to where you were supposed to go if you were cliff jumping and needed to get out. AKA: the side of the cliff. So you better hope you're good at rock climbing!

When I returned to the Cirque, Mr. Crepsley was waiting there. He held out a letter to me as he walked past me, mumbling he'd be back in a minute.

I opened the letter and read it. When I finished, I was in shock.

_Darren,_

_Hey. I know that we never got on like we could have. But, like I said before, I was jealous of you. So I took all of my hatred out on you. I started rumours about you, fought you, stole your best friend, even gave you a wound the size of a baseball glove. But, one of my deepest regrets is that I knew what you were really hurt by: Larten leaving. I took advantage of that when we were fighting. I'm sorry for that. I am also sorry for cheating you. I didn't fight fair like you. You would have won fair and square. But I almost killed you. For that, I am sorry. _

_As your questions earlier: I NEVER guessed that you would come and talk to me. But your questions, for the first two, I answered. For the third...to be honest, I didn't know what I was going to do. _

_But now I do. _

_I am going to go. Leave. I have no idea where I will leave, but I'll let you know when I have an idea. _

_Hope you can forgive me. _

_And if it's not too much to ask, maybe we could consider being friends someday?_

_~Chris._

I just stared at the letter. Read it twice, three times.

Wow.

I couldn't even put what I felt into words. I guess relieved, maybe glad.

But I can't even now put it into words.

A few minutes later, Mr. Crepsley came out. He locked eyes with me, then told me to follow him.

We must have walked about five miles before he started to speak again.

"I saw that you went cliff diving again."

"Yeah, is that a bad thing?"

"No. not at all."

A few more miles had passed before I broke the silence.

"Why did you attack Chris?"

Mr. Crepsley slowed down his pace a little before continuing like normal.

"Because nobody gets to harm my s-assistant but me."*

"Oh."

We walked a few more miles before I looked up and saw the moon.

"Mr. Crepsley! Look at the moon."

He looked and we laughed. It was the same moon that hung in the sky when I came back from the dead. Blue.

***line***

Mr. Crepsley and I walked side by side. It had been twenty years after I had jumped my last cliff and I had learned that Chris was gone. He had died a few days later from infection in his wounds. But before he died, I already considered him as my friend.

Mr. Crepsley looked at me and smirked.

"What is so funny, Mr. Crepsley?"**

"Nothing. After all, that is what you said when I saw you trying on my cloak."

"Will you forget about that? It was two days ago!"

He laughed and I walked ahead.

It was about two or three in the morning and we were stretching our legs from all the sitting around we had done in the last few days.

As we were walking past a memory flickered in my head.

This is the way I went when I was going to have "fun". Then Chris attacked me. Wait- cliffs!

"Mr. Crepsley, is this not the way to where the cliffs are?" I asked my mentor.

"Yes. Why?"

I looked at the moon and almost gasped.

There was a blue moon and there were shooting stars around it.

"Follow me!"

"Darren." He groaned and turned around to see where I was heading.

I ran to the edge of the cliff and looked down. It looked almost the same as it did the last time I was here.

"Do you think that the water is going to be the same temperature as it was when I jumped off twenty years ago, Mr. Crepsley?" I asked, turning towards him.

"Possibly. I doubt it though."

"Want to find out?"

Mr. Crepsley grabbed my shoulder. I turned around to see his face had gone red.

"I um...never have been cliff diving before. Do you think that you could teach me how?"

I grinned and grabbed his hand. "Of course."

We took a few steps forward and looked down.

"Well, maybe I will be able to do this, but you might not be able to do so."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I am sorry, but that is a secret kept to me." After a glare from him I changed my mind. "I am just doubtful that you will be able to get out without drowning."

He smacked me upside the head and scoffed. "I shall be able to get out just fine. I am more concerned for you. After all, how will a child be able to get out of the water without a nosebleed?"

I glared at him.

Then I guided him, I still had his hand, and we jumped off the cliff. Into the water.

"Vain old git!"

"Rude young brat!"

**Okay guys! Sorry it was so long. But I wanted everything to be in this. Not cut out a lot of stuff that I think you guys would have liked to see!**

**okay, here are some things that you might have noticed.**

***= Mr. Crepsley was about to call Darren his son! Aww...Not too fluffy is it? Eh, who cares, my fanfic,I can make what I want to happen. I think that Mr. Crepsley had a father/son relationship. But that's just me.**

****=Darren had picked up Mr. Crepsley's no conjunctions rule. If you looked you could tell that Darren spoke exactly like Mr. Crepsley.**

**Well, that's the end of TSRH saga!**

**Hope you guys loved it!**

**Please review and check out my other stories too!**


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